Excursion to the North Yorkshire Moors Railway

by Andrew Macfarlane with pictures by Tina Knowles

Stanier LMS Black Five 4-6-0 No. 45428 Eric Treacy at Whitby
It is running round the train in the station

Waiting to depart Whitby for Grosmont, where it will come off the train

ex-North Eastern Railway class Q6 0-8-0 No. 63395 at Grosmont

Fifty–three passengers were on board our Selwyns coach as we headed to the NYMR on Saturday 4th June. Eight of these were Society members. We were fortunately able to leave Northwich slightly early because the two passengers joining here were on board before the departure time. We had to do a slight detour in Stockport which lost us a small amount of time. We then took a shortcut between the M60 and the M62 via Broadway (thank you to John Mackenzie for advising us on this) which helped save time and we also cut out a proposed stop at Hartshead Moor motorway services. Unfortunately there was some traffic congestion on the York bypass and around Malton which delayed us and we were also held up in the town of Pickering.

Luckily we just made our 12:00 train by the skin of our teeth (thank you to Tina Knowles for dashing to the train and putting her foot in the door!). The loco hauling the train was none other than 76079, the “Pocket Rocket”, formerly owned by Ian Riley but now owned by the NYMR themselves. Coincidentally, a picture of this loco featured on the tickets from the 2004 Mid Cheshire Steam Train, which we used for our passengers on the NYMR.

The fine weather helped us to enjoy the run on the NYMR. Locos were changed at Grosmont and Black Five 45428 Eric Treacy was hauling trains between there and Whitby. Some passengers broke their journey at Grosmont and walked around the loco shed before catching a train an hour later to Whitby. Most passengers stayed on the train to Whitby, giving them the afternoon in the busy town, which is now very much geared towards tourists. The town’s renowned fish and chips were on the menu for many before we headed back to the station for the 16:40 train to Pickering. This was hauled by 45428 as far as Grosmont, where former North Eastern Railway Q6 0-8-0 No. 63395 took over for the 1 in 49 climb up to Goathland and on to Pickering. Three passengers chose to return home by car so there were 50 of us on the coach as we headed home after an enjoyable day. Here’s to the next coach trip!